The Harrison County district is responsible for children in north Gulfport and the rest of the county — 13,000 children in 18 schools. Another 17,000 attend schools in four smaller districts in Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport and Biloxi.

Arledge says every superintendent in the area is struggling with the same problems of damaged and destroyed buildings, student and teacher dislocation. He's already had teachers who have resigned and plan to leave the area.

But he thinks he can get his students back in class by Oct. 15.

About 80 percent of the buildings in his district are damaged but repairable, Arledge said.

Two schools housing almost 850 students were damaged by flooding and will require lengthy environmental remediation. A large middle school with more than 1,000 students needs major roof reconstruction.

Sharing facilities

Meanwhile, the students in those flooded schools will probably have to go to school on a split shift, sharing another school's facilities.

"I don't think we know what the cost is," Arledge said.

But he warns that his district's tax base was small to begin with and 50 percent of it has been destroyed. He's banking heavily on insurance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Replacing textbooks is a big question mark, too. Not just at the damaged schools but those that students took home with them before the storm.

"You don't know what condition they'll come back in," Arledge said.

Schools used as shelters

In addition to damaged buildings, six schools are being used for shelters and another three as temporary housing for
National Guard
units. He doesn't expect to have to ask any of the temporary inhabitants to leave, and says he can "roof right over them."

But Arledge is concerned that the students and their families may not be ready for school even if the district is.

"You're going to send your child to school with nothing to wear and no roof? It's terrible," Arledge says.

Estrella Martinez, a round-faced 9-year-old, was sitting at a cafeteria table at Harrison Central Elementary School on Tuesday, reading a book titled, There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom! But this school is a temporary home — a Red Cross shelter filled with displaced families.

Her parents, Orquida and Eduardo Martinez, say their family lost their home in Biloxi and are thinking about moving to Ocala, Fla.

"If we stay here, school will take a long time." Eduardo Martinez said. "That's the main reason we want to leave."

Stella Romero, 26, has six children — all boys. Their Gulfport house is gone, she's stuck in a shelter and she is fretting about getting her boys back in school. "I worry about it every day," Romero said.

Upset ninth-grader

Lara Erion
, 34, lived in Long Beach with her 14-year-old daughter, but cleanup crews bulldozed what was left of her house and she is stuck in the same
Orange Grove Elementary School
shelter with Romero.

"My daughter Laran is in ninth grade," Erion said. "If she doesn't get in school soon, she'll have to go all summer."

Laran wants to be a forensic scientist and had her next four years all figured out, Erion said. The delay is very upsetting for her daughter.

But maybe a little time before the students go back to school is not such a bad thing, Erion said.